Time and tide, they say, wait for no man. However, man must wait for tide on occasions and today was such a day.
Our first problem was realising that whilst we had the bacon, the sausage and the eggs, the means off frying them, e.g.the frying pan, was on Brigantia. Off we went to the cafe for breakfast!
The First Mate then set about installing the NMEA multiplexer whilst the bosun and I flushed and filled the main water tanks (Erbas has no less than three tanks and the smaller aft tank is the only one that's been used for a while). The tanks were happily clean and the water perfectly potable.
By now, the tide was well up the gauge so we made ready for the short trip across the estuary. Although I had no intention of sailing today, the mainsail cover came off and the halyard was rigged - we'd look pretty stupid if we were unable to hoist the sail in the event of engine failure.
We motored out into the Fleet and, as expected, once clear of the shelter of the salt marshes we had 20 to 24 knots of breeze on the wind readout and moderately lumpy waves on the beam.
Once sufficiently clear of the Nass spit, we made directly for Bradwell which coincidentally put the wind and the waves right on our nose.
We experimented with the engine revs and found that she'll do 6.5 knots at about 3000 RPM but if you try and push it any harder she just digs her stem in and let's you know you're being a pillock by soaking your boots with water coming up the cockpit drain!
We settled down to a more comfortable 5 knots at 2300 RPM although as the wind picked up and the waves got steeper it did slow us down some. Still, on Brigantia we'd have been struggling to make headway in those conditions.
The engine, we agreed is very civilised both on deck and in the cabin. The VHF works well too as we demonstrated by calling up the marina and arranging a visitor's berth.
We got into a bit of a pickle when we overshoot the berth and the wind chose that moment to blow us sideways into the boats opposite. Some quick work with the fenders and careful maneuvering got us neatly parked between a pile and a pontoon end just clear of the fortunately reasonably short boats in those berths!
I took a few moments to collect my thoughts and formulate a plan. Glen, who'd arrived by car, went to the end of the finger we were trying to get onto with instructions to grab a bow line if we got close enough or could heave one to him. Rik took a turn off the bow line round the pile whilst a couple of fellow boaters who'd offered to help stood by to fend us off if needs be.
I then went ahead against the bow line to spring the stem out into the channel before giving Rik the nod to slip the line and giving out the beans in astern. By 'eck does she hold back! Taking the view that it was now or never, I went for it with a hefty lump of forward throttle and the tiller hard over and into the berth we went.
We sorted out fenders and lines and got the kettle on. It looked like rain and we'd be here a day or two so we dug the untried cockpit tent out of the locker. We found it very easy to put up and most excellent once up. With the cockpit cushions hoiked up out of the quarter berth and the table set up its a whole load of extra living space.
I had a firtle with the laptop and the new multiplexer and after some driver issues got it receiving data from the Seatalk instruments and the plotter. The AIS isn't working though which I need to look at further.
Dinner on board was followed by beers at the marina bar then back on board to sort out what Rik and I need for our last outing on Brigantia tomorrow. It's an early start in the morning as we need to make haste to get across the Rays'n and into Tollesbury with enough water to get over the cill
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